The job that almost wasn’t but then was...
I’ve been trying in vain to get a second job for many months now, even more so since I haven’t been working during the summer break. I haven’t worked in over a month now, which is no big deal, but I get extremely bored and desire the extra money that even a minimum wage second job will bring in. My finances are always marred by unexpected expenditures, and I failed to save the allotted amount of money to coast through the summer without working.
I’m not picky in what I wanted for a second job. It would basically be a job that I could screw around at, not take seriously, and quit at a whim if something undesirable happened. I already have the security of a substitute teaching job, which pays 26% more than a fulltime minimum wage job does. I could have coasted through the summer without working but would’ve uncomfortably emerged with the smallest of money remaining, knowing that my next paycheck wouldn’t come until October 1 with my savings account dwindling precariously below $400 at the moment. So, for the month of July, I’ve been considering viable options for this blow-off second job. I attempted to apply at any McDonald’s - having been something I’ve done before - but their online application is the height of tedium. Plus, I hate filling out online applications that just end up in an electronic database never to be read. With McDonald’s falling out of favor, I decided to try my luck at getting back in at Wendy’s - certainly not the location I used to work at. I worked at Wendy’s for 2 years 3 months, and I wasn’t fired or anything bad like that. I simply just told my scheduling manager not to put me on the schedule anymore since I had a different job. I wasn’t really on good terms with the managers there anyway. Plus, I could just apply at any store that isn’t part of the franchise that I worked at, and my experience might even be helpful in landing a job at another location.
I applied at 20 Wendy’s locations, and each application maybe took five minutes to fill out. Most of these locations were in portions of Wayne County including the Downriver area. I knew the routine. You fill out the application, give it to the loser behind the counter, hope it finds its way to the manager’s desk, and then you leave and never hear from them. Some of the locations I applied at were probably a little far out of my range. I gladly drove to Lincoln Park (a 30-35 minute drive) to make $80 sitting at a teacher’s desk for 5½ hours, but I doubt I would want to drive there to work a laborious eight hour shift for $60. But, my application found its way to the fringes of Detroit, and I just waited to see if anyone would call. One place did take notice of my application, and it led to my extreme anger. The location on Biddle in Wyandotte looked over my application as soon as I gave it to them, and they told me to come back a few days later for an interview. This location, not being accessible by any highway, took about two dozen red lights and 35 minutes to get to. I drove all the way there for my interview early in the morning, only for them to turn me away and tell me the position was already filled and that they would call me when another position was available. They probably thought I just walked from a few blocks over, and I had few sarcastic words to say to the manager as I left.
I had all but lost hope. I’ve worked fast food jobs before. I know how humiliating and frustrating the application process is, especially knowing that you’re filling out an application for a job at the extreme bottom of the social pecking order. If you don’t get an on-the-spot interview or a phone call within two days, then you know your application got lost in the pile - if it even made it to the pile and not shoved under the counter by a forgetful register person or just thrown away. But, I did receive a phone call about a week after I turned in one application. The lady asked if I could come in for an interview a few days later, and I told her I could. I didn’t ask what location she was calling from, because I didn’t want to make it seem like I did apply at 20 different Wendy’s. A Google search luckily revealed that it was the Wendy’s in Southgate, which is about a 25 minute drive away. I went in for the interview, and it was successful. The GM didn’t asked too many questions about my past experience at Wendy’s, because I doubt that was really even important anyway. She simply asked me if I could work the closing shift, which is something she needed. That would work perfectly in order for me to substitute teach again starting in September - something I never bothered telling her. Usually, having another (better) job deters lowly fast food places from wanting to hire you, because they know you won’t take the job seriously. Of course, that is the case, but they don’t need to know that. She then just rambled on about the store’s policies and whatnot, and the interview lasted about 20 minutes. She told me that she was going to hire me, and that she would call me within a few days to tell me what time to come in for orientation. She told me it would probably be the following Wednesday that she would want me to come in, but she would call me to let me know for sure since she hadn’t written the following week’s schedule yet.
So, I went home knowing that I would be hired but would have to wait for her to call to tell me when. My interview was on a Thursday, and I anticipated a call very soon. She didn’t call on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I went to bed Sunday night expecting her to call me on Monday to at least tell me what time to come in on Wednesday. That’s all I needed to know, and I was patient and wasn’t going to call the store just yet. Well, she didn’t call, and at around 2:30 in the afternoon on Monday, I decided to call the store. The GM wasn’t there, but I told the other manager on the phone who I was and my story - thinking maybe she at least knew something or could at least leave a message. When I told her my name again, she looked at the schedule and said, “Do you know you’re scheduled tonight from 4-8?” I questioned her on that, knowing that I haven’t heard from the GM since my interview. She said I was on the schedule for four days starting in 1½ hours. I told her that was fine and that I’d be there at 4:00. I was kind of pissed off, because if I didn’t call just out of curiosity, I would’ve missed my first day and surely not had a job anymore. Of the eight jobs I have had (Food Town, Hot ‘n Now, McD’s, TWB, Wendy’s, Cracker Barrel, ISD, TSS), I never encountered such a bizarre scenario where I wasn’t even notified of when I was supposed to start.
I showed up to work, and the manager already had my uniform waiting for me. I was already entered into the system and was able to clock in and start working. I asked her if I needed to fill out any paperwork (such as the I-9 form), but she said she didn’t know and that I would have to ask the GM when she comes into work on Wednesday. So, I started my job there without so much as a signature or any documentation other than my application. A 20 minute uninformative interview, no communication after the interview, no phone call to inform me of when I was supposed to start, no orientation, but a uniform waiting me when I walked into the door at 4:00 in the afternoon on Monday, July 26, 2010…
I’m not picky in what I wanted for a second job. It would basically be a job that I could screw around at, not take seriously, and quit at a whim if something undesirable happened. I already have the security of a substitute teaching job, which pays 26% more than a fulltime minimum wage job does. I could have coasted through the summer without working but would’ve uncomfortably emerged with the smallest of money remaining, knowing that my next paycheck wouldn’t come until October 1 with my savings account dwindling precariously below $400 at the moment. So, for the month of July, I’ve been considering viable options for this blow-off second job. I attempted to apply at any McDonald’s - having been something I’ve done before - but their online application is the height of tedium. Plus, I hate filling out online applications that just end up in an electronic database never to be read. With McDonald’s falling out of favor, I decided to try my luck at getting back in at Wendy’s - certainly not the location I used to work at. I worked at Wendy’s for 2 years 3 months, and I wasn’t fired or anything bad like that. I simply just told my scheduling manager not to put me on the schedule anymore since I had a different job. I wasn’t really on good terms with the managers there anyway. Plus, I could just apply at any store that isn’t part of the franchise that I worked at, and my experience might even be helpful in landing a job at another location.
I applied at 20 Wendy’s locations, and each application maybe took five minutes to fill out. Most of these locations were in portions of Wayne County including the Downriver area. I knew the routine. You fill out the application, give it to the loser behind the counter, hope it finds its way to the manager’s desk, and then you leave and never hear from them. Some of the locations I applied at were probably a little far out of my range. I gladly drove to Lincoln Park (a 30-35 minute drive) to make $80 sitting at a teacher’s desk for 5½ hours, but I doubt I would want to drive there to work a laborious eight hour shift for $60. But, my application found its way to the fringes of Detroit, and I just waited to see if anyone would call. One place did take notice of my application, and it led to my extreme anger. The location on Biddle in Wyandotte looked over my application as soon as I gave it to them, and they told me to come back a few days later for an interview. This location, not being accessible by any highway, took about two dozen red lights and 35 minutes to get to. I drove all the way there for my interview early in the morning, only for them to turn me away and tell me the position was already filled and that they would call me when another position was available. They probably thought I just walked from a few blocks over, and I had few sarcastic words to say to the manager as I left.
I had all but lost hope. I’ve worked fast food jobs before. I know how humiliating and frustrating the application process is, especially knowing that you’re filling out an application for a job at the extreme bottom of the social pecking order. If you don’t get an on-the-spot interview or a phone call within two days, then you know your application got lost in the pile - if it even made it to the pile and not shoved under the counter by a forgetful register person or just thrown away. But, I did receive a phone call about a week after I turned in one application. The lady asked if I could come in for an interview a few days later, and I told her I could. I didn’t ask what location she was calling from, because I didn’t want to make it seem like I did apply at 20 different Wendy’s. A Google search luckily revealed that it was the Wendy’s in Southgate, which is about a 25 minute drive away. I went in for the interview, and it was successful. The GM didn’t asked too many questions about my past experience at Wendy’s, because I doubt that was really even important anyway. She simply asked me if I could work the closing shift, which is something she needed. That would work perfectly in order for me to substitute teach again starting in September - something I never bothered telling her. Usually, having another (better) job deters lowly fast food places from wanting to hire you, because they know you won’t take the job seriously. Of course, that is the case, but they don’t need to know that. She then just rambled on about the store’s policies and whatnot, and the interview lasted about 20 minutes. She told me that she was going to hire me, and that she would call me within a few days to tell me what time to come in for orientation. She told me it would probably be the following Wednesday that she would want me to come in, but she would call me to let me know for sure since she hadn’t written the following week’s schedule yet.
So, I went home knowing that I would be hired but would have to wait for her to call to tell me when. My interview was on a Thursday, and I anticipated a call very soon. She didn’t call on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I went to bed Sunday night expecting her to call me on Monday to at least tell me what time to come in on Wednesday. That’s all I needed to know, and I was patient and wasn’t going to call the store just yet. Well, she didn’t call, and at around 2:30 in the afternoon on Monday, I decided to call the store. The GM wasn’t there, but I told the other manager on the phone who I was and my story - thinking maybe she at least knew something or could at least leave a message. When I told her my name again, she looked at the schedule and said, “Do you know you’re scheduled tonight from 4-8?” I questioned her on that, knowing that I haven’t heard from the GM since my interview. She said I was on the schedule for four days starting in 1½ hours. I told her that was fine and that I’d be there at 4:00. I was kind of pissed off, because if I didn’t call just out of curiosity, I would’ve missed my first day and surely not had a job anymore. Of the eight jobs I have had (Food Town, Hot ‘n Now, McD’s, TWB, Wendy’s, Cracker Barrel, ISD, TSS), I never encountered such a bizarre scenario where I wasn’t even notified of when I was supposed to start.
I showed up to work, and the manager already had my uniform waiting for me. I was already entered into the system and was able to clock in and start working. I asked her if I needed to fill out any paperwork (such as the I-9 form), but she said she didn’t know and that I would have to ask the GM when she comes into work on Wednesday. So, I started my job there without so much as a signature or any documentation other than my application. A 20 minute uninformative interview, no communication after the interview, no phone call to inform me of when I was supposed to start, no orientation, but a uniform waiting me when I walked into the door at 4:00 in the afternoon on Monday, July 26, 2010…